Finally, Brandon built to a finish, a long, satisfied groan escaping him when he buried his cock in Stuart’s ass one last time, his balls pumping a load of cum deep inside him.
Then Brandon reached around him and fisted his cock. “Make it fast, boy, or I might make you wait until tomorrow night. You already got off once today.” He reached around with his other hand and tugged on Stuart’s balls, the combination quickly finishing him off. It didn’t take more than a few pumps for his cock to explode, hot cum covering Brandon’s hand as his ass clamped down on the cock still buried inside him.
Brandon turned them, leaning against the wall, his arms around Stuart holding him even as Brandon’s softening cock remained inside Stuart’s ass. “Such a good boy.”
Stuart tipped his head back to look up into Brandon’s blue eyes. “Thank you, Master.”
Brandon’s throaty chuckle rumbled through Stuart’s chest. Brandon leaned in to kiss him. “Thank you. Sorry it’s been a few days. Under the circumstances, if you want to ask for permission to masturbate, you can have it.”
Stuart drew Brandon’s arms snugly around him. “No, thank you, Master.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m your good boy.”
Brandon nuzzled Stuart’s ear. “Yes, you are my very good boy.”
Chapter Five
On the couch, Jeff had dozed off and on ever since they’d returned home from his doctor appointment. His late-night solo bravado had fizzled right out in the harsh light of day.
He couldn’t even drive feeling the way he did now.
How the hell did he expect to work? Seriously?
Even the earlier shower sex, which to be honest he hadn’t had to expend any energy to enjoy, had left him physically drained.
Because of being out of it, Jeff only caught snippets of conversations from the dining room. He was aware of Stuart arriving home, then disappearing for a while. He could hear Emma and Grace softly talking while doing their homework. Stuart and Brandon returned, soon followed by the aroma of dinner being cooked.
Someone rounded the couch. When Jeff opened his eyes, Stuart was kneeling in front of him, gently brushing the hair away from Jeff’s forehead.
“Hey.” Stuart leaned in and kissed him before settling on the floor. “How you feeling?”
“Shitty.”
“Sorry.”
“Not your fault.”
“I’m still sorry. Dinner’s almost ready. Can I bring you a plate?”
Jeff needed a moment to answer that. His stomach both rumbled with hunger and dangerously rolled at the thought of eating anything, even though the house smelled delicious now.
“No,” Jeff finally said.
Brandon suddenly appeared from somewhere. Jeff realized he must have really been out of it to not sense him walking over. “You heard the doctor, buddy. You need to eat. You’re losing weight. If you don’t eat, I’m going to make you start drinking those shakes.”
“They’re disgusting. They taste like—” He’d been about to say ass, and not even good ass, but realized with the girls standing right there in the kitchen that it wasn’t exactly appropriate to say with them within earshot. “They taste horrible. I hate them.”
“I know you do. You still need to eat. At least a little.”
Jeff tried to sit up and realized he had two sets of hands helping to stabilize him. The room spun for a moment, then settled. “I don’t want another PICC line,” he said, not even caring he sounded like a petulant child.
“Then you need to eat something,” Brandon gently said. “I know the meds upset your stomach. We need to adjust your meal schedule so you’re eating a little before you take them. That might help. The doctor said so. Spread it out. Find stuff you can tolerate and let you graze throughout the day.”
Stuart stared up at Jeff, his brow furrowed, his sweet green eyes full of worry.
“Can you please bring me something?” Jeff finally asked him.
Stuart jumped up to do it, leaving Brandon there with him.
Brandon sat next to him on the couch, draping an arm around his shoulders. “No, you are not going back to work right now.”
Jeff glared at him. “How’d you even know I thought that?”
“You were mumbling at me earlier when I checked on you before I called work. Before Stuart got home.”
He really must have been out of it. He didn’t even remember doing that.
Brandon arched an eyebrow at him. “Once you’re feeling better, yes, then we can talk about it. Right now? No. Absolutely not. I didn’t want to make you quit working, but you and I both know it had to happen like this.”
Jeff was torn between wanting to cry and wanting to throw a temper tantrum and realized he didn’t have the energy to do either.
Not to mention Brandon was absolutely right.
He leaned against Brandon. “I hate feeling like this,” he whispered.
Brandon kissed his temple. “I know, buddy. It’s okay. You overdid it and crashed yourself. Part of what you’re feeling right now is due to how exhausted you feel and how much pain you’re in. It’s messing with your emotions. That’s what the doctor said. You need to remember this and learn to take it easy.”
“This isn’t fair. We’re supposed to get our happily ever after now.”
“We have that. We have each other, and Emma.”
Grace cleared her throat from nearby.
“And the bonus daughter, who shouldn’t be eavesdropping on our conversation.” Brandon glanced in her direction.
Grace appeared in front of Jeff. “Sorry, Pop. I came to ask what Jeff wanted to drink. I didn’t want him to have to yell.”
“Do we have the lemon-lime Gatorade?” Jeff asked.
“A whole bunch of it.”
“That, please.”
“Thanks, sweetie,” Brandon added, when she left to get it. Once she was back in the kitchen, he dropped his voice. “I’m going to get you one of the new pills, and you’re going to take it.” The doctor had written the new prescription for Jeff at the appointment after Brandon had told him about Jeff’s mood swings in relation to pain.
Jeff hadn’t wanted the prescription.
Brandon had overruled him.
“I don’t want to take Xanax.”
“It’s only for a little while, and it’s a very mild dose. Just to help take the edge off until you’re feeling better. The doctor said it’d help you. Remember what he said? You’re caught in a stress cycle, and it’s making your pain worse. Once you feel better, you can stop taking them.”
Stuart returned with Jeff’s plate on a plastic tray. Mac and cheese, very tender pork tenderloin, and green beans. Not a lot of any of it, just a few bites of each.
Grace brought him a tall glass of Gatorade with a straw. While Stuart swapped places with Brandon, Jeff took a few sips of the Gatorade.
Then Brandon reappeared with the pill and a cup of water.
Sighing, Jeff took them from him and swallowed the pill.
“What’s that?” Stuart asked.
“I’ll tell you later,” Brandon said.
* * * *
Yeah, Brandon got it. Jeff felt horrible and was hating on himself and life in general at that point.
And it sucked and wasn’t fair. Not a bit.
Brandon had already talked to Doyle, a friend of theirs from the Suncoast Society group who also happened to be a psychologist, and might be setting Jeff up with an appointment to talk to him in the next week or so if Jeff’s mood didn’t improve. That morning, Brandon had made several appointments with Cherise for Jeff, his next on Friday, early evening. Brandon would take him after he got off work.
When the doctor had suggested the Xanax, at least temporarily, Brandon knew Jeff needed it. Brandon had done research, too, and it was common for people with chronic health issues to experience depression, or anxiety.
Once Jeff’s body climbed out of this flare, he likely wouldn’t need the Xanax. But for the next few days, at the very leas
t, Brandon was going to insist Jeff take it. If nothing else, to give his body a temporary respite from the mental stress.
Brandon went and grabbed his own plate, which Stuart had dished out for him, and brought it and his glass of iced tea out to the sofa to eat with Jeff. No, he couldn’t imagine what Jeff felt like on a daily basis, but it killed him he couldn’t do more for his guy to help him feel better.
But he would always do what was best for Jeff. Sometimes, like having to make decisions as a father for Emma, that might mean making unpopular decisions.
They still had to be made.
“Think of going back to work as a goal,” Brandon said as he watched Jeff push a green bean around his plate with his fork. “Something to earn. I hated having to tell you to stop working, but this had to be done.”
“I know.” The Xanax would kick in any time. Brandon hoped to get him to eat as much as possible before that happened, knowing that the meds might knock him out. Jeff wasn’t used to taking them, and the doctor had warned Brandon that over the first couple of days, it might mean Jeff fell asleep on them.
At least him driving or operating heavy machinery wasn’t an option right now.
Thankfully.
“I was thinking about maybe pricing out hot tubs,” Brandon said. “Especially if you think it’ll help with your pain.” The pool was heated, so at least Jeff was able to get in it several times a week and pool walk for exercise. Low-impact, gentle on his body, and keeping him moving in a way that wouldn’t harm him.
“Is it in the budget?”
“We can make it work. Used ones aren’t bad at all. Not an in-ground one, obviously.”
“If you think so, Sir.” Jeff still poked at the same green bean, but at least he’d finished his mac and cheese and the pork.
“Can I get you to eat some more macaroni for me?”
Jeff let out a long sigh. “I guess, Sir.”
Brandon set his plate on the coffee table and took Jeff’s back to the kitchen. Stuart started to jump up from the table to help, but Brandon waved him back down. “I got it.” He offered him a smile. “Go ahead and eat.”
He didn’t dish very much out for Jeff, not wanting to overwhelm him. When Brandon returned to the couch, Jeff stared at the plate for a moment, where Brandon had set it on the tray on his lap.
“You okay, buddy?”
Another sigh, followed by a shrug.
Houston, we have lift-off. The Xanax must have kicked in.
“Eat that for me, please,” Brandon said.
Finally, Jeff started doing it.
Okay, well, that was a bonus. Maybe they wouldn’t have to wheedle and beg to get him to eat. Jeff hadn’t exactly been obese to start with. Right now, he was perfectly in the center of a weight-to-height chart ratio, except he looked borderline gaunt to Brandon’s loving eyes.
Stuart had privately commented on it, too.
It was usually easier to get Jeff to eat breakfast than dinner. Brandon made a mental note to add more things like instant cream of wheat and oatmeal to the shopping list. Stuff he knew Jeff liked and would eat, that would also hopefully be easy on his stomach and was easy for him to prepare.
But it was difficult, especially if Jeff wasn’t up and about by the time he and Stuart left for work, to monitor Jeff’s morning diet.
Finally, Jeff finished the macaroni Brandon had brought him.
It reminded Brandon in some ways of when Emma was a baby and started eating. She’d been a picky eater at first, until she hit three years old.
From that point on, she’d been like a starving piranha.
But during her picky phase, trying to get her to eat sometimes took a two-person song and dance act between him and Tracey, their own food going cold while trying to make sure more of Emma’s food went in her mouth than it did on the floor or walls.
Or ceiling.
Three times.
Brandon decided to go for broke. “Feel like more macaroni?”
Another shrug.
He took it as a yes and brought him another serving.
That was the limit, though. Finally, Brandon knew he needed to get Jeff to bed or the man would be sleeping on the couch.
Leaving Stuart to help the girls clean up the dishes, Brandon hooked an arm around Jeff’s waist and helped him into the bedroom. After getting him on the bed, Brandon closed the bedroom door and then stripped Jeff, helping him into the middle of the bed. Tonight, he and Stuart would sleep with him to make up for leaving him alone the night before.
He still felt bad that Jeff had awakened alone. Brandon had thought he would sleep all night. If he’d known he would wake up and be upset about that, at least he would have slept with him, or he would have ordered Stuart to.
Brandon stretched out next to him in bed as Jeff rolled toward him. “I love you, Master,” Jeff whispered, nuzzling his head in close.
Brandon pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “Love you, too, boy. So, so much. That’s why I need you to let your body heal and listen to the doctors, okay?”
“Yes, Sir.”
Aaannd…like that, Jeff was asleep, softly snoring.
Brandon gave it about ten minutes before carefully extricating himself.
Stuart and the girls were almost finished cleaning up the kitchen.
“So what is the new medicine?” Stuart asked.
“Xanax,” Grace said, holding up the bottle from where all of Jeff’s medicine bottles sat together on the counter. “For his mood, right?”
Brandon crossed his arms and leaned against the counter. “Yeah. Temporarily. To see how he does. Once his pain levels off again, he might come off it.”
“I’m honestly shocked he hasn’t been put on it sooner,” Grace said.
Very little the genius-level girl said surprised Brandon anymore. “Why is that?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I researched Lyme disease. Anxiety and depression are very common in chronic, long-term patients. Xanax is a commonly prescribed drug, especially short-term. It’s logical.”
“You really should go for pre-med.”
Grace shrugged again. “Not sure if I want the hassles of dealing with malpractice insurance and trying to bill insurance companies. I’m thinking about it, though.”
He caught the way Emma smiled at her, though, and the way Grace looked at her, the loving side glances.
Part of him was rooting for them, hoping they would make it for the long-haul as a couple. At least they had things easier than he’d had.
They didn’t have to go through the same level of pain as he had coming out to a wife, getting divorced—all of that collateral damage.
He wasn’t under any illusions that they had a completely smooth road ahead, but maybe it would be easier, in many ways, than what he’d gone through.
Or Stuart.
At least, in that way, Jeff had life “easy.” His parents and sister had accepted him fully when he’d first come out to them as gay, and then accepted Brandon and Stuart as Jeff’s partners when he’d told them about their triad.
Emma had to drive Grace home. Once Brandon and Stuart were alone, he pulled Stuart close, holding him tightly.
“Love you, boy. Thank you for being understanding with him this morning.”
“I know he doesn’t mean it. I sometimes have to make myself remember he’s hurting and it’s the pain that does it.”
Brandon kissed him, their sweet subby boy. Dubbed their “Alpha” subby, since Jeff got to actually marry Brandon, but it was in title alone. Stuart didn’t have a truly toppy bone in his body.
“Can we hook up a hot tub on the lanai?” Brandon asked.
Stuart looked up at him. “I don’t understand.”
“I don’t understand what you don’t understand.”
Stuart seemed to need a moment. “Are you asking my permission to hook up a hot tub on the lanai? Because…I’m pretty sure you’re the Master and don’t need my permission.”
Brandon snorted as he realized the sourc
e of Stuart’s confusion. “Would we need to put a new electrical circuit or something out there? You are an electrician, are you not?”
“Oh. Oh! Okay.” He laughed. “Sorry, Master. It would depend on what we got. I’d have to look at the specs. I think some of them run off 110. If so, we might be okay. If not, I’d just add another breaker to the panel and run an outdoor conduit. Couple of hours of work, that’s all.”
“So we could do it?”
“Sure. For Jeff?”
“I was thinking so, yeah.” He smiled down at him. “And for fun, too.”
Stuart smiled back. “I would enjoy that kind of fun.”
“I’m sure you would.”
They headed for their bedroom once Emma safely returned. They managed to climb into bed on either side of Jeff without waking him. As they settled in, Brandon tipped his head close to Jeff’s and inhaled, comforted by his scent. It wasn’t the same with the three of them not in bed together.
It finally hit him he’d never given Stuart an answer about going to his sister’s wedding.
I’ll let it stew overnight. He didn’t want to start a discussion about it and wake Jeff.
Frankly, he wanted to say no. It was his gut instinct, and any time he’d ignored that in the past, bad things had happened.
Except…it was Stuart’s family. And Stuart seemed to want to go, at least for his sister’s sake.
It can wait until morning.
Chapter Six
“We haven’t talked about Thanksgiving yet,” Jeff mumbled early the next morning when the alarm went off on Stuart’s phone.
Stuart thought maybe he’d misheard him, but then on the other side of Jeff, the lamp snapped on and Brandon raised his head. “Huh?”
“Thanksgiving.” Jeff’s eyes were still closed, and he winced as he rolled to his right side, now facing Stuart. “We haven’t talked about it yet.”
Stuart looked over Jeff at Brandon, who appeared as perplexed as Stuart felt. But before Stuart could ask Jeff where that thought came from, a soft snore escaped him.
Sound asleep again.
Stuart couldn’t help it. He stifled his giggles and somehow made it out of bed and to the bathroom, where he realized it was difficult as hell to pee standing up while also trying not to laugh loudly enough to awaken a man asleep in his bed.
A Case of You Page 5
